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Needle-weapon
Needle-guns have always struggled to find a market and are largely considered to be fringe specialist weapons. The needles themselves do little in the way of damage, which means that most users aren't too keen on them, preferring the electro-laser option. Their flexibility and stealth, however, (not to mention that they use the same skill) makes transition a bit easier so that only familiarity becomes a problem. As an assassin's weapon, these gas-powered guns, loaded with chemicals of one kind or another, usually do the trick. They're quiet and fire without a muzzle flash. Many companies produce non-metallic versions, ostensibly for materials purposes, but in the hopes of capturing a particular market. Added to the fact that they come in all shapes and sizes, needle-guns can be incredibly difficult to detect. Thus needle-guns have a more restrictive legality class than most other weapons. Types of Needle-Weapons Needler The needler is by far the most common needle-weapon and is a small pistol with a low weight, little recoil, respectable rate of fire, but high magazine capacity. It can be used to fire bullets at low velocities, but its primary use is with specialist needle packs with varying types of rounds. While tranquilizer rounds made the needler a contender for non-lethal law enforcement (there's no skill training involved, while electro-lasers require some knowledge of Beam Weapons) other types have won the day in their effectiveness. Models are still in production, however with some more dubious load outs of toxic or other chemical agents. Ungur Sitko PX-311 While electro-lasers were still on the uptake with many law enforcement agencies and contractors throughout the Republic, Ungur Sitko was attempting to promote its needle pistol, the PX-301, as the primary choice in non-lethal law enforcement weaponry. Defeated in this endeavour by Soji and their electro-lasers, the early models of the needle weapon just seemed more fragile than the solidly built Soji Warden. Ungur Sitko nearly went under as a result, but design teams managed to further refine the PX-3 series into the model 311, which is now frighteningly accurate, and more accomodating with BIOL round loadouts, making it something of a preferred weapon amongst "specialist" security forces. The high cost of the PX-311 is outweighed by the deadly accuracy, which is often capitalised by those with plenty of time to aim from hiding.Many commentators have observed that the success of the PX-311 is the main reason that Ugur Sitko is still around as a company, and that they decided to move into the stealth weapon market (quite a shift for a company that started wanting to make non-lethal weapons). Wrist Needler Some may consider it strange that the wrist needler is less restricted than the needler given that the former is almost uniformly a concealable assassination or doping weapon. The fact of the matter is that its reduced range, capacity and damage conspire with the difficulty of use to make it less of a problem among civilian populations. A strange weapon, the wrist needler is designed to be attached to the forearm and fires as a result of nerve-impulse from the wearer (typically not much more than pointing a single finger). Because of the lack of the trigger, firing the wrist needler is twice as difficult to familiarise yourself with. Needle Rifle Again the result of a desire for a non-lethal weapon, the needle rifle is a more accurate longarm along the same lines as the needle pistol. Seeing even less use than other needle weapons, the rifle often fetches a much higher price than the retail value of $600, if someone is desperate to make a purchase.